This was the blog of a blacksmith.
Soot Happens, but you clean yourself up when you need to (even if it takes years). If you find that life isn't where you want it, just toss it back in the coals, bring it to heat, and reforge.

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

We are currently searching for life on other planets by trying to first identify planets in the Goldilocks Zone, a region of space in a given solar system not so close to central star as to be too hot, but not so far from it as to be too cold.

Assume for a moment that there is advanced intelligent life out there, and such beings have visited Earth in the past and found primitive man. After working out a pidgin in which to communicate, early man asks the visitors something along the lines of why are you here? or how did you find us?.

Wednesday, October 05, 2011

As a youth, I was heavily involved in the Scouting program and as a scout, I swore an Oath to, among other things, do my best […] to obey the Scout Law and keep myself […] mentally awake and morally straight. The Scout Oath is a personal one, it is not to the country, to BSA, or even to the troop. It is the scout's Oath to himself, and is "on [his] honor". As such, it is for the scout to handle should he break his oath. I have broken my Oath — parts of it, anyway; but to break a part is to break the whole. My honour demands that I rectify this breach, by taking the Oath once again, living by it, and making amends where I can.

This article is directed specifically at young men and women from ages in their mid to late teens, and generally to the population as a whole. With this article I hope to help you understand some concepts that I "knew" as a teen, but did not understand. Concepts I did not understand until well after my lack of understanding got me in trouble. Hopefully, you will come to understand these concepts and avoid trouble.

Tuesday, October 04, 2011

Handling Wrong-Doing: A Look at Both Sides of the Line.

I have not posted here in some time, and as I was reading through some older works, I came across this which I felt needed to be shared. What follows is a piece I wrote as a facebook note under my T. W. Hrafn page, which I use for my creative works (poems, stories, etc.). However, as not everyone has facebook, I felt I should repost it here, where it seems much more fitting. Aside from this new introductory paragraph and some formatting differences, the body of the work should be largely unchanged. Spelling issues found when editing the formatting here were corrected on the original post as well.The original post may be found here.

At some point, each of us will wrong another, and another will wrong us. Very likely, several instances of both will occur. We may try our best to avoid wronging others, but it will still happen, and we have no control over others wronging us. What I present here is how I view the relationships that form when one man wrongs another, as well what I see as the only moral way to handle such situations.

Sunday, September 18, 2011

I'm writing this from our motel room as I look out the window at the ocean.

Many people have criticised us for going on a week long vacation to the beach when they know we are trying to pay back debts and save for a house. To them, and any else who wonder why we would take such an expensive trip when that money could be going somewhere more useful: if you've been focused on something for a long while, especially something tiring, like debt repayment, you need to take a break from time to time. You need to take a sanity check to keep you focused and keep you from burning out. This vacation is such a check.

As I sit here, my wife reading, the waves crashing outside, I can feel my energy, and my resolve, returning, rebuilding, and restoring. When we return in a week, we will all be the better for it, and our efforts towards repayment, preparing and saving redoubling. The weariness has been fading from our faces, and we find ourselves telling the other We needed this.

If you find yourself getting burnt out, take a sanity check; not so much that it works against what you have worked so hard to do, but enough that you can find your stride again, and reset the pace you once kept.

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Most mornings, I get up early, shower, cook, eat, and leave for work before sunrise.

Often I will greet the moon (if still in the sky) and the sun when I first spot them in the day (especially while driving); just a simple good morning, Máni/Sunna typically.

This morning, however, I had greeted the moon (it seems that the likelihood of greeting is directly proportional to fullness) as normal however, a quarter hour later, when the sun rose directly behind me, rather than my usual, quiet greeting, I bellowed out loud and strong Good Morning, Sunna! Hail! Hail the Morning! Hail the New Day!

I rather surprised myself with my greeting, but it felt right, and I knew today would be a good day.

Thursday, September 01, 2011

The following was written as part of a comment on one of my facebook statuses. It concerns only my thoughts on the tax code (spending is a separate issue for another post).

Our current tax system is a horrid thing that is riddled with loopholes purchased by lobbyists, most for corporations or entire industries. Our tax system is fragmented into different kinds of taxation to benefit one group over another. Our tax system is set up in such a way that for taxes on earned income, the more you earn, not only the more you pay, but the greater percentage. Lastly, our tax system is set up in such a way that it is possible that through write-offs, grants, subsidies, etc. it is possible to "pay" negative taxes, and actually receive tax money instead of paying it.

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Soot Happens, and when it does, you need to be able to clean up; often, the bigger the mess, the more expensive it is to fix.

Yesterday, Soot Happened to me. I was driving to work and a red HOT COOLANT message displayed on my dashboard. I had been getting periodic LOW COOLANT messages and figured it had just gotten too low and bad on me for letting it. So I purchased some coolant and popped the hood (note: never do this in that order). The reservoir was over full with murky coolant, so I took it to the mechanic across the street so they could take a look at it, and probably flush the system for me.Several hours later, a leak was discovered in the seam of my radiator, and the whole thing needed to be replaced.

I had just been paid, and I had already spent most of my check on paying bills and debts, but there was enough technically available in the account to cover the expenses, but more bills to pay before the next check arrived, some already scheduled.

Saturday, July 30, 2011

In an attempt to find a good "relaxing drink" to have other than water, I decided to make a lemonade sweetened with raw, local honey. It turned out quite well, so I thought I would share the recipe I used, as well as the adjustments I plan on making in the future.

Monday, July 25, 2011

Each of us follows a path, several paths, really. We all follow our own path when it comes to our beliefs: spiritual, moral, economical, kink, what products we buy – every aspect of our life. Typically, we wish to share our path with others, some religious communities require it. There are several ways you can share your path/beliefs/brand-loyalty/way-of-doing-things, in this post I will share with you how I choose to share. You don't have to follow it, but I hope you'll at least listen to my methods, and hopefully see some wisdom in them.

Saturday, July 23, 2011

I prefer to spend my time with people like me. The more like me a person is, the more I like to spend with him, or her. I like to spend time with people who think like I do, who have similar goals, and see the world in similar ways. With Luck I found someone very similar to and she agreed to spend the rest of her life with me. There are still differences, but they are differences we live with.

Monday, July 11, 2011

This begins the first in a Frugal Living series I would like to do. Very little in this series will be things I am not doing myself, with occasional comments about things I plan to do, but am unable to at the moment for some reason.

I would like to make a small clarification before I begin. I note a difference between cheap, inexpensive and frugal.

Cheap items are something of shoddy craftsmanship (ofttimes manufactured) that are often inexpensive.

Inexpensive items are ones that do not much money to purchase. However, a number of cheap inexpensive items need to be replaced, some, such as disposable razors, or razor cartridges, are designed for limited use and need to be replaced quite often and the small expense adds up over time.

Frugal items may or may not be inexpensive and are rarely cheap. Some can have a hefty up-front cost, but due to better design and craftsmanship, these items (even the manufactured ones) are made to last, and can often be purchased second hand, mitigating a bit of that initial cost.

Friday, July 08, 2011

It has been a while since my last post, almost five years. In that time so much and so little has happened. So I'll hit the highlights. I would also like to apologise that this will not be as lengthy a post as I would like, as I must go to work soon, where blogging sites are blocked by the company firewall. I'm going to be arriving later than I would like, but with my flexible schedule, this is not a problem.